The kaleidoscope and the nesting doll: a re-examination of resilience as a thick concept

Welcome to a keynote speak with Henrik Thorén, Lund University!

In spite of the rumours of its demise, the concept of resilience is alive and well and is a frequent occurrence in debates about e.g., sustainability and climate and disaster adaptation. Yet the concept's meaning and usefulness remains in flux and subject to controversy. Part of this controversy revolves around the extent to which the concept is descriptive and what the implications are if the concept is or has become normative.

In this talk I will outline the history of the concept of resilience in sustainability research and illustrate the many ways in which value judgements do inform the concept. I will argue that often we want and need a thick concept of resilience, but that under some circumstances it functions as a kind of normative kaleidoscope that scrambles value judgements and moral intuition with beliefs and conceptions of how the systems we are investigating work in ways that make it more difficult both to understand how social-ecological systems work, and how to navigate the transition to sustainability.

The lecture will also be live-streamed. Join on Zoom

About the speaker

Henrik Thorén is a researcher within the field of theoretical philosophy at Lund University. His main research interests revolve around different integration problems in the climate, environmental and sustainability sciences. 

Sustainability, Ethics, and the Environment

The keynote is a part of the symposium Sustainability, Ethics, and the Environment NSU Winter Symposium 2024. 

Other public events within the symposium:

10 January 19:00: Panel discussion: Ethics and Sustainability – The Crucial Questions.

11 January 13:15: Keynote: Sustainability and Human-Nature Relationships - Anna Deplazes Zemp, University of Zurich.

The symposium is organisied by the Department of Historical, Philosophical and Religious studies with support of UTRI (Umeå Transformation Research Initiative).